


You were always meant to be

by HopeSilverheart



Series: Loving Em at 2AM [78]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Baby Gay Clary Fray, But very briefly since this is a one-shot, Clary Fray & Simon Lewis Friendship, Crushes, F/F, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Fools in Love, Girls in Love, Human AU, Humor, Implied Maia/Lydia, Meet-Cute, Oblivious Clary Fray, Pining, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:47:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeSilverheart/pseuds/HopeSilverheart
Summary: “Oh, where did you get that bracelet? It’s very pretty.”“This one?” Isabelle asked, pointing at the thin golden chain decorated with tiny gemstones. “It’s from my soulmate, actually. It’s one of my favourite things to wear.”“Yeah, I get that,” Clary blushed, playing with the girlfriend’s necklace – although it was currently hidden by her high-collared shirt. Sure, the girlfriend and Isabelle’s soulmate weren’t exactly the same thing, but close enough. “It’s nice to have something to remember them by.”Or: Clary thinks her soulmate is a boy who constantly loses his girlfriend's things. Thankfully for everyone involved, Isabelle is not a boy and does not have a girlfriend.
Relationships: Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood
Series: Loving Em at 2AM [78]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764400
Comments: 2
Kudos: 115





	You were always meant to be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatnerdemryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/gifts).



It started with a scrunchie.

Ever since her 14th birthday, Clary had been waiting for her soulmate to lose something so the redhead could get a clue as to who exactly she was meant to be with. No one really knew how it worked, but Clary couldn’t have cared less as long as an item that didn’t belong to her eventually found its way to her. It could have been a notebook, a pen, a hoodie, _anything_ so long as it got her a step closer to finding her soulmate.

(So long as it gave her proof that someone out there was meant for her.)

Unfortunately, her soulmate was apparently meticulous and careful with his belongings. Clary didn’t receive a single lost object for two years after her 4th birthday, and by the time she _did_ get something, she had all but given up on the boy who was supposed to be her other half.

And then, she got the scrunchie.

She would have assumed it was one of hers, since she owned her fair share of sparkly hair ties, but if there was one thing Clary had learned about having ginger hair, is that wearing red was a _huge_ mistake. So the scrunchie, whilst very pretty, couldn’t be hers. Sure, it had been in her bedroom when she had walked in that night after school, but it didn’t belong to her.

It didn’t belong to Maia, which had been Clary’s second guess, and Simon had never seen it before either.

So, as much as she hated to think about it, she had no other choice but to come to the conclusion that the scrunchie belonged to her soulmate. Or, if she was being perfectly honest with herself, to her soulmate’s _girlfriend_. She didn’t know why she had assumed that the boy on the other end of the soulmate connection would have wanted to wait for her, but her heart still broke a little as she realised the person she was meant to love had already found someone else.

That night, she cleared out one of her bedside table’s drawers and threw the scrunchie inside, hoping against hope that it would be the last time she had to deal with proof of her soulmate being in a relationship.

But since the world was a cruel place, her prayer went unheard. The scrunchie had only been the start of a long series of painful reminders that her soulmate was dating a stylish girl who had impeccable tastes. On top of that, Clary couldn’t even wear half of the things she received, since the girlfriend seemed to be obsessed with red and Clary refused to stoop that low.

“What did you get today?” Simon asked her one day over lunch when Clary dug through her bag and came up sighing, her hand decidedly not holding the pencil she had been looking for. “Is it another perfume? Because if so, Rebecca asked me to steal it from you. Apparently, she loved the last scent you got and kind of wants to be friends with the girlfriend.”

“Your sister wants to get friendly with the girl who’s dating my soulmate?” Clary gaped. “I thought Rebecca _liked me_! Besides, it’s not perfume. It’s one of those stupid chapsticks with a weird taste; pink lemonade or something? What even is that?”

“Sounds nice,” Maia shrugged, grabbing the chapstick from Clary’s hands and trying it on without permission. Not that she needed it, since Clary had made it very clear that the girlfriend’s things were public property within their little group. “Tastes okay, too. You know, at least the girlfriend has somewhat decent taste in things. You still wear her necklace, don’t you?”

“It’s a cute necklace,” Clary pouted defensively, her right hand rising to fiddle with the pendant unconsciously. “And if the girlfriend wants her stuff back, maybe she should think twice before dating someone else’s soulmate and giving her things away, even if momentarily.”

“It still doesn’t make sense to me,” Simon frowned. Clary sighed, getting ready to tune out the upcoming conversation and debate. It wasn’t like they would talk about anything she hadn’t heard before as her friends tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for the girlfriend’s unexpected presence in Clary’s life. “If these things belong to the girlfriend, shouldn’t they be going to her soulmate rather than you?”

“And since the girlfriend’s belongings are the only thing you’ve ever gotten, are you sure you don’t want to revisit the idea that maybe, just _maybe_ , you’re actually the girlfriend’s soulmate,” Maia added, staring at Clary nervously as she waited for the redhead’s reaction.

Once upon a time, Clary would have been outraged at the mere thought of being connected to the girl her soulmate was dating. Now though, it only made her feel mildly frustrated at her friends’ persistence. She knew her situation didn’t make much sense, but she also knew that the girlfriend wasn’t a figment of her imagination.

“I mean come on, Fray,” Simon continued, raising his eyebrows at her. “Are you still trying to convince yourself that you’re completely straight? Because your little act stopped working on me years ago. Admit it, even you have a bit of a crush on the girlfriend. You wear her necklace to bed, for heaven’s sake.”

“I wear her necklace everywhere,” Clary retorted, blushing brightly as she realised she really wasn’t doing herself any favours. “Look, I have no reason to believe I’m anything other than utterly straight. I’ve never even been attracted to another woman.”

“But have you ever been attracted to a man?” Maia prodded, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at Clary expectantly.

The worst part was Clary _knew_ her friends had a point. She knew just as well as they did that she had never been interested in anyone, boy or girl, because she was waiting for her soulmate. And yet…

“I don’t know how many times we need to have this argument before you fold and admit that my soulmate is dating someone,” Clary huffed. “You even call her ‘the girlfriend’ out loud because you know, deep down, that’s all she is to me. The girl my soulmate is dating. Nothing more, nothing less. Why else would the stuff have only started arriving after two whole years of waiting? My soulmate is probably a control freak who occasionally stores some of his girlfriend’s stuff away before forgetting – and thus losing – it.”

“Sounds fake,” Maia rolled her eyes. “Look, Clary, I know there’s nothing we can say that will convince you that you’re wrong but just know this: you’re wrong.”

“Honestly, I’d be more willing to believe you if you had gone for a sister rather than a girlfriend,” Simon shook his head disappointedly. “I mean, who on earth gives that much stuff away to their boyfriend, especially in a world where your belongings are the only thing linking you to your soulmate?”

“The girlfriend, obviously,” Clary muttered. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a maths class to get to, and you both need to be in the science building just about… now. Good luck with Mister Starkweather!”

She sauntered off before her friends could say anything else, knowing they would just find another time to talk to her about it anyways.

The thing was, Clary _wanted_ to believe them. She wanted to believe that there was a girl out there waiting for her with her red scrunchies and dresses that always had Clary’s mom looking at her sideways. She wanted to believe that her soulmate wasn’t dating anyone else, that he just had a sister or a very close girl best friend. She wanted to believe them, but… she couldn’t.

She couldn’t, because she had spent two years waiting for a sign of her soulmate’s existence only to receive a scrunchie when she was 16. She had made up her mind about the girlfriend that day, and she wasn’t about to go back on her own word. She was never been interested in girls, no matter how pretty and kind and funny and wonderful they were, and she wasn’t about to start now.

The world knew what she needed, and Clary was sure what she needed was a boy. Or at least, she was _almost_ sure that was what she needed. Maybe not what she wanted, but definitely what she needed, if only to show her friends that she wasn’t completely insane or delusional.

Still, the thought of a pretty girl with a bright smile and red outfits haunted her mind all day. She played with her necklace, tracing the ‘L’ shape over and over again until she felt like she could breathe normally again, and only then did she let herself go home, walk to her bedroom, and lose herself in the drawer full of various girlfriend items.

A part of her wondered if it was normal to be this interested in things that didn’t even belong to her soulmate, but Clary had stopped questioning all soulmate-related oddities in her life long ago. So what if she wore the girlfriend’s necklace every day, only taking it off when she was forced to? So what if she kept everything in a drawer, only taking items out when one of her friends desperately needed her help?

It didn’t mean anything.

She repeated that to herself as she dug through the infamous drawer and let her fingers trail over the items almost reverently. She had an entire year’s worth of objects and knick-knacks in there, and she was probably more attached to them than was reasonable.

She wore the vanilla-strawberry perfume almost every day, even though she _hated_ strawberries. She wore one of the girlfriend’s shirts at least once every week, picking out the pieces that weren’t an obnoxious shade of red. She had even started praying for the girl to lose more make-up so Clary didn’t have to buy her own.

And through it all, she told herself she was only doing it because it was the only thing linking her to her soulmate. So what if he had a girlfriend? So what if he was letting Clary see this side of him over and over again? So what if he hadn’t even _tried_ to lose anything important – unlike Clary, who had almost managed to lose her driver’s license before finding it in her back pocket.

At least she had his girlfriend’s belongings. Besides, wasn’t it much better for her to get items she could use rather than boy things she wouldn’t have known what to do with? As long as she had something, she didn’t care. Her soulmate was out there somewhere, and the girlfriend wouldn’t be around forever, and it would all be alright.

She pretended she didn’t feel the way her heart clenched at the thought of the girlfriend not being there anymore, and valiantly told herself that it didn’t mean anything.

If she believed it hard enough, maybe it would turn into the truth.

* * *

The week that followed the chapstick-induced conversation was absolute chaos for Clary.

More specifically, it was absolute chaos for her soulmate and the girlfriend. Where she had usually gotten a few items a month, she suddenly starting finding lost items everywhere she looked. She received more in those seven days than she had all _year_ , and she was struggling to understand what the hell was going on with the other side of the connection.

It was so bad that even her classmates and teachers had started noticing the amount of things Clary was suddenly carrying at random times of the day. The side of her closet dedicated to red outfits she would never wear – but that Maia loved borrowing from time to time – was overflowing. Her drawer, which had been a perfectly sufficient storage space before, was suddenly too small for all the belongings Clary was getting.

Not only was she getting a larger amount of things, she was also getting a more diverse set of items. On top of the usual clothes and jewellery, she had received textbooks and posters and even a set of car keys. She couldn’t even tell if the things were the girlfriend’s or – for the first time – her soulmate’s, because there were just _too many_.

Simon and Maia found it hilarious, teasing her about the soulmate who was so desperate to meet her that he was all but purposefully losing his things. Clary might have found it funny too, but the increase in unfamiliar objects was making it harder for her to keep track of her own belongings, and she found herself missing more and more belongings as the week passed.

She’d already had to apologise to her teachers twice, quickly explaining the situation and promising that she would be more careful in the future. She couldn’t find her home keys anymore, she was almost certain she had dropped her favourite pair of earrings at some point, and she had misplaced at least three of her latest drawings.

“Earth to Fray!” Maia snapped her fingers in front of Clary’s face, effectively startling her out of her thoughts. “There you are. Were you too busy thinking about the girlfriend to notice us standing here?”

“I knew you were there, Maia,” Clary rolled her eyes, slamming her locker shut and staring at her best friends expectantly. “Well, did you have something to say? You both seem unusually happy for a Monday morning. Were your week-ends really that good? Did you finally find your soulmates?”

“Unfortunately not,” Maia sighed. “The beautiful Lydia Branwell has yet to walk into my life and profess her undying love for me. Or rail me against a wall, I really don’t care which one happens first.”

“We get it, Maia,” Simon huffed. “You know who your soulmate is, she’s very pretty, and the two of you are going to be very happy as soon as you meet each other. Now, if we could get back on topic? I know you’re both very concerned for your love lives and sometimes forget there’s a world outside of soulmates, but today isn’t just any other day.”

“Right, the Lightwoods,” Maia nodded enthusiastically. “I hear they’re all ridiculously good-looking, that their parents are rich, and that the eldest son is already studying law at Columbia. Family of genius, apparently.”

“The Lightwoods?” Clary frowned. She couldn’t remember having ever heard that name before and, contrary to popular belief, she did listen to what her friends had to say. Most of the time. Maybe she hadn’t been completely attentive over the past week because of the soulmate nonsense, but she didn’t think that was entirely her fault.

“Yes, Clary, the Lightwoods,” Simon hissed, throwing his hands in the air at Clary’s blank look. “The new kids, Fray! God, do you keep up with anything that happens inside this school? We have two new kids in our grade. One of them is in your home room, for god’s sake. It’s all anyone’s been talking about for the past week, since their parents are apparently semi-famous.”

“Oh, yeah, maybe I heard something about that,” Clary said placatingly, even though she really had no idea what her friends were talking about. Sure, maybe one of her teachers had mentioned a new student, but she honestly wouldn’t have been able to remember their last name if her life had depended on it. “Did you want me to do something about the one in my home room?”

“It’s not up to us whether or not you want to make a new friend, Clary,” Maia muttered, although Clary hadn’t missed the way she had perked up at the mention of becoming friends with one of the new kids. “However, we won’t turn them down if you bring them to our lunch table. That is, if you can drag them away from our popular counterparts.”

“We’ll see,” Clary shrugged. “If they look nice enough, I’ll give it a shot. If not, I’ll stay at the back of the classroom and continue on with my life as the lonely kid in home room 4. Does that work for you?”

“Absolutely!” Simon grinned, dancing victoriously and backing away from her whilst pointing his usual finger guns at her. “You’re the best! Please get us a new friend!”

She highly doubted that these Lightwood kids would want to hang out with a trio whose main hobbies were drawing, video games, and a terrible game of basketball every once in a while, but it was worth a shot. Although, if Simon and Maia thought she was about to interrupt a conversation between a new kid and someone like Raj, they were dreaming.

She had _some_ self-preservation, thank you very much.

When she stepped into her home room, however, it became very clear that the new kid – _girl_ – had no intention of spending time with Raj, Zara, and their little gang of pretty people. The usually popular group was sitting at the front of the room, seething silently as they glared at the most beautiful girl Clary had ever seen.

She had no idea if the good-looking genes extended to the other new kid, but if so, Clary could understand why everyone had been making such a big deal out of their transfer.

The brunette sitting at the desk right next to Clary’s usual one was effortlessly gorgeous, with shiny dark hair, entrancing brown eyes, and a dangerous smirk playing at her lips. If Clary hadn’t been so dead set on waiting for her soulmate, she might have just made a move on this girl.

She froze in her tracks a few feet away from her desk.

_A move on this girl_. Since when had her brain started showing any sort of interest in women? Hell, since when had her brain started showing interest in anyone? She had lived in peace and away from any sort of embarrassing crush for years, so why on earth was that changing now?

Shaking her head to get rid of the ridiculous thought, Clary closed the remaining distance between herself and her desk and sat down as gracefully as she could manage. Just because she didn’t have a crush on the girl didn’t mean she couldn’t uphold her promise to her friends.

“Hi,” she smiled softly, extending a hand out to the new girl and hoping she didn’t look half as nervous as she felt. “I’m Clary Fray.”

“Isabelle Lightwood,” the brunette grinned, looking Clary up and down very purposefully. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. So… Have you been here long? I’m afraid I don’t actually know much about this place; one of the many downsides of moving halfway through the school year.”

“Yeah, I- I’ve been here since freshman year,” Clary stammered. “So it’s been a little while. I wouldn’t say I know every inch of this school, because that would just be depressing, but me and my friends know how to get around. We could… We could help you, if you want?”

“Oh, I _want_ ,” Isabelle smirked, carding a hand through her hair and rendering Clary speechless for a few moments before she remembered how to breathe. “So yes, why not? If all your friends are as delightful as you are, I’m sure we’ll get along perfectly well.”

“Right,” Clary murmured, trying to distract herself from how stunning the girl was with something, anything, just- “Oh, where did you get that bracelet? It’s very pretty.”

“This one?” Isabelle asked, pointing at the thin golden chain decorated with tiny gemstones. “It’s from my soulmate, actually, so I can’t take the credit for such a wonderful find, and I can’t tell you where they got it either. It’s one of my favourite things to wear.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Clary blushed, playing with the girlfriend’s necklace – although it was currently hidden by her high-collared shirt. Sure, the girlfriend and Isabelle’s soulmate weren’t exactly the same thing, but close enough. “It’s nice to have something to remember them by.”

“Exactly,” Isabelle grinned. “I’m assuming you haven’t found your soulmate either, then? Any idea who they are? Boy, girl? Around our age?”

“Definitely around our age, I think,” Clary answered, thinking about the different items she had accumulated over the past year or so. She opened her mouth to add that her soulmate was a boy, but the words refused to make it past her lips. It shouldn’t have been hard. It was just a word, just a confirmation of what she had always believed, and yet… “I don’t know if they’re a boy or a girl. I always assumed they’d be a boy, but my friends seem to think there’s a chance they’re not, so… I’ll just have to wait until I find them.”

“That’s pretty much the attitude I’m going with too,” Isabelle smiled. “Although I’m leaning more towards a girl. I wouldn’t care either way, as long as they cared about me.”

Clary blushed at how familiar the words sounded. She had always told her mother that she would love her soulmate no matter what. She just hadn’t thought that would apply to gender as well. Now though… God, she really didn’t want to tell her friends that there was a chance they were right, but she couldn’t lie to them either.

They would know something was up as soon as they noticed how Clary was incapable of looking away from Isabelle.

She had a crush. On a girl. Which meant there was a very good chance that the girlfriend was – as Maia had always assumed – not in fact her soulmate’s partner.

Holy shit, Clary’s soulmate was a girl, and the redhead was already mostly in love with her. Maia would never let her hear the end of it, and her soulmate would make fun of her _forever_ if she ever found out.

* * *

“You could just tell her you think she’s pretty but explain that you’re waiting for your soulmate, you know?”

Clary glared at Simon as Isabelle approached their lunch table with a wide smile, taking her now usual seat next to Clary and leaning against her slightly as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Needless to say, Clary was not handling the new girl’s presence as well as she thought she would.

Isabelle had only been at school for a week and a half, and Clary was already struggling to remember that she had a soulmate waiting for her at the other end of her connection. A soulmate who was probably just as beautiful as Isabelle, and who wore just as much red, and who undoubtedly did her make-up at least as well as Isabelle did.

The problem was her soulmate wasn’t there. All Clary had of her – because after a few more discussions with Maia and Simon, it had become very clear that Clary had been fooling herself – were a few items and a necklace she had always cherished with her entire heart. Isabelle, on the other hand, was within arm’s reach, always grinning and talking excitedly and worming her way into Clary’s heart faster than anyone ever had.

It terrified her, especially since she knew she would have to break her own heart when she found her soulmate. Isabelle was a wonderful person, but she wasn’t the one Clary had been waiting for her whole life.

“What’re you guys talking about?” Isabelle asked as she sat, looking back and forth between Simon’s exasperated face and Clary’s undoubtfully forlorn features. “Is something wrong? Are you guys fighting over something? Oh, is this about that chemistry project you told me about, Simon?”

“No, it isn’t,” Maia butted in, batting her eyelashes at Clary sweetly. “We were just talking about our soulmates. And more specifically, a certain redhead’s soulmate and the many ways in which she is screwing up her chances.”

“What are you even talking about?” Clary frowned. Sure, they had been talking about her soulmate in a vague way, but she didn’t think she had been doing anything to mess up her chances. If anything, she was increasing her chances by not giving into the urge to flirt with Isabelle. “How on earth am I screwing things up? All I’ve done is lose my things, same as everyone here.”

“Oh my god,” Maia muttered underneath her breath. “The two of you are truly as bad as each other.”

“Wait, what have _I_ done to ruin my chances with my soulmate?” Isabelle asked, furrowing her brows adorably. “I haven’t even met them yet. Believe me, I’ve tried showing my bracelet off to just about everyone at this school, but no reaction. I guess I’ll just have to wait for college.”

“Oh, for fuck’s-” Maia groaned, burying her head in her hands and waving her hand at Simon in a completely incomprehensible gesture. “Will you tell them?”

“I thought we were waiting for-” the brunet cut himself off when Maia narrowed her eyes at him warningly. “Fine, I just thought it was nice of us to let them come to their own conclusions. Clary, please take a closer look at Isabelle’s bracelet. And Isabelle, please just pay attention to Clary’s necklace for longer than a second. You two have been absolutely insufferable ever since Isabelle got here, and we’re not going to sit through this any longer.”

With that, he stood up, dragging Maia with him and shooting Clary a pleading stare as he looked between Isabelle and her. As much as she didn’t want to be left alone with Isabelle, she had a feeling they were trying to tell them something important, so she sighed and turned back towards the brunette, her breath hitching when she realised how close the other girl was.

Isabelle was staring at her necklace intently, running her fingers over the ‘L’ in a way that should have made Clary’s skin crawl – this was a part of her soulmate, after all – but only made her such in yet another breath. It took her a few seconds to realise that Isabelle was staring at the pendant a little _too_ intently, almost as though…

“That’s mine,” the brunette whispered, glancing up at Clary from underneath her lashes, her eyes wide with awe. “It’s my necklace. My brother gave it to me for my fifteenth birthday, but I lost it at some point last year. I thought he would be mad, but he always told me my soulmate would keep it safe until I could get it back. And now, you have it.”

Clary opened and closed her mouth a few times, wondering if she was dreaming all of this up or if she was truly sitting next to Isabelle Lightwood, her _soulmate_. Was the story real, or was Isabelle just messing with her? After all, the brunette had to know that Clary had the biggest crush on her, and it would be all too easy to screw with her feelings.

“Is this yours? You didn’t recognise it before, but is it?”

Clary glanced down at the bracelet being presented to her. The first time she had seen it, she had been far too busy trying to ignore her strange attraction towards Isabelle to focus on it. And after that, she had simply forgotten to pay attention to what Isabelle was wearing, far too interested in the girl herself.

However, the bracelet _was_ familiar. It wasn’t one she had worn often, since it had been more of a ‘formal occasion’ kind of piece but she still remembered the day Luke had bought it for her as a reward for getting featured in the school’s newspaper. She had lost it at least a year earlier, if not more, and had completely forgotten about it.

Now there it was, resting around Isabelle’s wrist as though it had always belonged there. In a way, Clary thought, it had.

“Yeah,” she breathed out, letting her hand hover over the bracelet delicately. “My step-father gave it to me, but I lost it less than five months after I got it, so I sort of… I didn’t even realise it was still out there. For a long time, I thought my soulmate was a boy, so I assumed he was-”

“Hold on,” Isabelle interrupted, biting down on her bottom lip _hard_. It took Clary a second to realise her soulmate was trying not to laugh at her. God, she shouldn’t have brought up the boy issue again; she had known it wouldn’t end well for her. “You thought I was a boy? You thought I, with my necklaces and make-up and dresses, was a boy? I mean, I know anyone can wear whatever the hell they want, but how was that your first assumption!”

“I thought he- you- I thought there was a girlfriend involved!” Clary cried out in self-defence, lifting her chin defiantly when Isabelle burst into giggles. “I didn’t get anything for two years after my 14th birthday, so when things started popping up last year, I just- I don’t know what I thought, alright?!”

“You’re luck you’re cute, Clary Fray,” Isabelle laughed delightedly, knocking her shoulder against Clary’s playfully, freezing as the redhead turned to stare at her head on.

They were still so close, mere inches separating them, and Clary knew Isabelle wanted to kiss her as much as she wanted to kiss the brunette. Their eyes kept flicking to each other’s lips as though they couldn’t help themselves, and Clary wondered if it would be completely inappropriate to have her first kiss in a high school cafeteria.

Maybe so. But the thing was, she had been thinking about kissing Isabelle all week, barely able to keep her eyes off the other girl. Even before she had known that Isabelle was her soulmate, she had felt drawn to her and had dreamed of her and wondered why the world would give her someone so perfect and _not_ make them soulmates.

Now they were, and Clary still wanted to kiss Isabelle. She still wanted her there and, if fate was correct, then Isabelle probably wanted Clary there too. So really, did it matter if their first kiss was in a crowded cafeteria? Would anyone judge them for being too excited to wait any longer?

And really, even if people judged them, should they care? It wasn’t like their relationship was anyone’s business but their own.

Before she could overthink things even more, Isabelle was closing the distance between them, holding Clary’s chin gently with two fingers and giving her plenty of time to back away before finally pressing their lips together in a gentle kiss. It was short and sweet and absolutely _perfect_ , and if Clary had been as romantic as her mother, she would have gone as far as to say it was like coming home.

She wasn’t, though, so she just pulled away from Isabelle and smiled dopily, hoping they would get to do that again, and again, and again in the near future.

“Even before I knew you were my soulmate,” Isabelle murmured against Clary’s mouth. “I thought you were the prettiest girl I had ever seen. You walked into the home room that first day, and all I could think about was how much I wished you would talk to me. And then you did.”

“And then I did,” Clary repeated with a wide grin. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognise that bracelet. I always thought I would know my soulmate immediately based on whatever they were wearing that had once belonged to me, but I should have known I would be too distracted by their beauty to pay attention to anything else.”

“I still can’t believe you thought-”

“Let’s not talk about that, please,” Clary blushed brightly. “Besides, I wouldn’t be so quick to judge, since I’m almost certain I lost two papers with my name on them a few weeks ago, and you didn’t react to _those_.”

“I tend to throw away pieces of paper I don’t recognise,” Isabelle shrugged in explanation. “Except if they’re drawings. I’m sorry, but you lose way too many loose sheets for me to pay attention to all of them. Your art is amazing, but I couldn’t care less about your grocery list or those strange poems you sometimes write.”

“Oh god, please don’t mention those either,” Clary groaned, burying her head in her hands and hoping she could just disappear. “Why is it that I manage to misplace all of my embarrassing things, and you just forget about your clothes?”

“It’s a talent,” Isabelle smirked.

“Right,” Clary drawled. “By the way, what is it with all the red? I swear I could have worn your clothes if they weren’t all the same colour as my hair. Instead, I had to put them away and pray you would find me eventually so I could politely give them back.”

“What can I say,” Isabelle smiled, leaning in towards Clary again, whispering her next words straight into Clary’s ear. “I look great in red, and I certainly didn’t see you complaining when I showed up in my burgundy dress the other day.”

“Shut up,” Clary rolled her eyes, cutting whatever Isabelle had been about to say next with her mouth and making sure the other girl stayed quiet for a few minutes more. She knew they were making a bit of a scene, but she couldn’t have cared less. “I can’t believe _you’re_ my soulmate.”

“And I can’t believe you’re mine,” Isabelle murmured, rubbing their noses together softly. “A _boy_ , honestly.”

“Drop it or I’m not giving you any more kisses!”

“As though you could resist me,” Isabelle purred. “ _My soulmate_.”

Clary wanted to protest, wanted to pout and tell Isabelle that she was perfectly capable of not giving into the temptation, but it would have been a lie. Besides, Clary wasn’t about to say no to anything Isabelle had to say when she let the term of endearment slip past her lips so enticingly.

_Her soulmate_.

**Author's Note:**

> Heya guys! Thank you so much for reading! The lovely Morgan shared a tik tok on our [Malec server](https://discord.gg/C26DBxG) this morning, and I knew I had to write this little soulmate AU for my favourite girl <3 Writing this whilst not making Clary out to be completely dumb was a bit of a challenge, but I think I did an okay job at it x) I've been in a very Clizzy mood lately, so hopefully you don't mind all the new content. I hope you all enjoyed this fic!
> 
> Love, Junie.
> 
> (find me on [tumblr](https://hopesilverheart.tumblr.com/))


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